There is a belief among some people (primarily religious folk) that there are evil spirits or demons, and their purpose is to influence the minds of men towards evil. There is the iconic image of a person with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, each whispering into his ears in an attempt to sway his mind. I don’t think many really believe in such things nowadays, and mankind really is fully capable of evil without needing to be goaded on.

However, there is a modern version of “evil spirit” that whispers and inspires disturbing thoughts. That would be the news media. The coverage of the Sand Hook School shooting has been appropriate. However, the news media being a business, know a hot story and they exploit it. We are all interested in what happened and want to be informed.

However, for the crazies of the world, they also watch the new media’s coverage with fascination. Unlike most people who were appalled and dismayed by this awful massacre, crazies view the event with…admiration. With the news dwelling on this massacre we are unwittingly inspiring the next crazy shooter. What normal people view as evil, the crazies view as power. Why else are we suddenly experiencing multiple shootings?

The news media is putting ideas in the minds of lunatics almost as if the media were whispering evil spirits. Sane people don’t understand this. But imagine the Sandy Hook School news coverage from the viewpoint of a crazy who feels abused by the world, feels powerless. By endlessly dwelling on these shooter/massacre stories we are setting up the next such event. Now the MO is a bulletproof vest along with Glocks or assault rifles.

Should we restrict news coverage of shooter massacres? We’d be better off if we did but that won’t ever happen. Instead I have an idea. How about limiting gun ownership to guns that serve a purpose? A hunting rifle, a double barrel shotgun, or a revolver for self defense all serve a purpose. A sixty round Glock or a hundred round assault rifles serve no rational purpose, outside of arming the crazies with the means to kill dozens of people in minutes.

Exorcism. The term sounds so medieval. In the past mental illness was taken for demonic possession. Medicine was so backwards and bizarre only a few centuries ago. Yet the fearsome specter of the devil still lingers in the dark corners of our modern consciousness. We may disbelieve…but not completely.

Near the end of the article it states:“But in the end, even though demonic possession is rare, Grob said it does exist, as he performs exorcisms two or three times a year. Though no heads spin, he has witnessed objects levitate in the presence of the “darkness.” The devil — “the evil one” — is very real, he said.”

Casting Out Demons

The idea of devils and demons is controversial. Rationalists obviously say demonic possession is a reflection of an overactive imagination. Many pagans dismiss the idea of the devil as a Christian fable. Pagans are justifiably tired of being accused of devil worship when their beliefs don’t even recognize a Christian devil.

The demon, real or imagined, is a part of many spiritual beliefs, not only of Christianity. The ancient Egyptians and Sumerians had their demons. So do Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. Exorcists are not only catholic priests, but include shamans and fundamentalist Christians.

“Demons” could be more broadly defined as evil spirits or negative entities. Are they products of the human psyche, or could they be objective, sentient beings?

Banishing evil influence, dark spirits, bad luck and negativity is a widespread spiritual activity. The Catholic priest waves a censor of incense, pagans use smudging; the idea is the same. Cleansing. It makes us feel better, safer. Consider banishing as exorcism lite.

If possession is rare, there is something else more common. It is called spiritual obsession, a term not widely recognized. With spiritual obsession a spirit doesn’t possess your body but influences your thoughts in a destructive way. Think of it as spontaneous, irrational, self-destructive impulses that appear from nowhere. Where did that thought come from? Why? It made no sense. If we reject these thoughts, they go away. But if we dwell on them…the negativity will linger, fester and become ingrained as our own.

Occult traditions have some ideas about the topic. Tradition suggests a maleficent spirit (or thought) can try an invasion. Normally we put it out of our mind, and it is gone. However, if we are passive in the face of a negative influence, eventually our connection with our own Higher Self may be severed. Our higher self is that part of our being that coexists with the realm of eternal Spirit. We are normally unaware of our higher self, but it steadily guides us invisibly. Call it our intuition.

A negative entity (or thought) might try to replace our higher self (or intuition) with itself, like a parasite. If we allow it, the entity/thought will become our new, lower self. Then we’d be stuck, unable to access our higher self’s assistance. Once our own spiritual abilities are extinguished we require help from others. An exorcist…or rehab!

Obsession may be quite common. We don’t need to be devil worshippers, wearing robes and sacrificing animals. People metaphorically sell their souls to the devil everyday. This is a process where people gradually abandon their humanity for some goal they think is more important.

For instance, some are willing to do whatever it takes to be successful, even if that includes harming others. Think of a gangbanger involved in a drive-by shooting, or a big businessman who feels no guilt about downsizing, firing employees and harming families. After awhile it gets easier and easier until neither cares anymore. Hey, it’s only business! Every day people sell their souls, if they realize it or not.

Losing our humanity is a process that takes time and neglect. Eventually no exorcism can cure this. It is called perfect possession. The world is filled with such monsters.

The story describe a miniature alter with a replica of a skull in his backyard tent. Could Jared Lee Loughner be suffering from something more then mental illness? Look into the eyes of his court room picture, and you may be seeing something other then just the human intellect looking back. Centuries ago most mental illness was blamed on demons. Today we know better. Yet, there may be instances when voices in the head may not be only one’s imagination. Might he also be suffering from demonic possession?

This news story suggests Jared Loughner may have dabbled in occult rituals. If we combine mental illness with substance abuse and then throw in potentially dangerous goetic magic, an individual can open the doorway to obsession or possession. Ceremonial magic is serious stuff and requires self-control and self-assurance. If the unstable play with this they can open their minds to dangerous forces. What would be unbalanced behavior can then become violent. These demons may be literal discarnate entitles, or they may be the psychological demons of the id. Yet, there is a difference between crazy and evil. This guy is evil.

Looking at the image of the alleged shooter’s shrine, I wonder if this is a shrine to Santa Muerte, or “Holy Death”. This is a Mexican figure of veneration, for those who venerate death. The figure is that of the Grim Reaper. It is considered a saint for lost souls and outsiders, and is used by those seeking supernatural assistance for acts that religion and other saints would certainly not approve of. The skull replica could represent Santa Muerte, and the oranges surrounding the skull would be the offering, the sacrifice given for Holy Death’s favor. Santa Muerte always required a price. And what was the favor the alleged shooter requested? Possibly, his success in assassination.

In the picture I notice 3 glass encased novena style candles. They often have labels on them designating their purpose. I don’t see any labels on these candles. Too bad, since if they were labeled that would be a clear clue to what the ritual had been about, and perhaps some of the motivation of the shooter.

I like gargoyles; they are cool. They make me wish I lived in Europe so I could check them out. Their great gothic cathedrals have so many of them. There are not many places in the U.S. where I can see monstrous beings carved in stone. I took the picture of the griffin above at the Yerkes Observatory. However, nothing is better then the real thing…a medieval cathedral gargoyle.

The term gargoyle refers to an actual waterspout, while the term grotesque refers to a gargoyle-like ornamentation without the waterspout functionality. Apparently, the reason for these carvings, their purpose and origin remain unknown. Why were these hideous and humorous waterspouts put on cathedrals of all places…God’s house of worship? Nobody knows for certain. Gargoyles are a mystery.

Grotesque

The gothic cathedrals of the middle ages were filled with symbolism. Since most people were mostly illiterate in medieval times, the cathedrals were like giant picture stories incorporated into stone and stained glass. The stained glass, the statuary, the iconography all conveyed clear messages. Inside the cathedral was an experience, as if one had entered heaven itself with God and his Saints and Angels watching over us.

What about gargoyles? If the cathedrals were filled with symbolism, what is the iconography of the gargoyle? They hover outside the cathedral, high above looking down on the churchgoers as they enter the church. There must be a purpose to them. I think the important clue is that they exist only outside the church, not within.

It has been suggested that the purpose of gargoyles were to scare away evil spirits. In other cultures, wearing scary masks while dancing and beating drums or the use of fireworks were used to scare away the evil spirits. Frightening ceremonial spirit masks and gargoyles look similar enough. Sort of like fighting fire with fire. Would a genuine evil spirit be afraid of a stone grotesque? I suppose people used to think spirits were dumb enough to be fooled.

Demons and gargoyles

Gargoyles seem to represent evil spirits. If you look at the woodcuts from the period that depicts the demon, they have a unique appearance that seems to match that of the gargoyle. Gargoyles cover the outside of the cathedral, but they don’t exist inside since symbolically evil spirits cannot enter the Holy. To the eyes of the medieval churchgoer, the cathedral might seem like the boundary between heaven and hell. Inside the Church were images of the saints and angels, outside waiting were gargoyles hanging from their perches. Inside the church’s structure heaven was symbolized, while outside the church the gargoyle symbolized the “outer darkness”, the realm where the lost souls and the damned dwell forever parted.

Here is a little scarier thought. Perhaps the gargoyles were not only symbolic. Could the visionaries and mystics of the time have seen something more, which we can’t see? Perhaps those blessed with special insight were able to actually view evil spirits hovering outside a church. Invisible entities might have prowled the parameter of places of worship…watching the worshipers for purposes of their own. Do spirits lay siege to places where people congregate for worship? The symbolism of the barrier between the clean and unclean spirits might not have been only symbolic.

Then again, gargoyles strike me as being the humblest of creatures. Ugly, taken for granted, doing the dirty work of being waterspouts. No carved saint or stone angel would dare be caught being a lowly waterspout. Sort of like all the invisible people in real life, who toil with our mudane work for little pay or glory. Like the laborers who toiled to build the cathedral for a wealthy Church. Yet, these people are no less worthy then any other human being, bishop or royalty included. Could that be the lesson of the gargoyle? Were they an act of rebelliousness by the stone carvers? That the humble gargoyle (like most of us) enjoys the same place in the Divine as all the fancy saints and angels? Except we have to sit outside in the rain.

In a previous post I wrote about a visit to the abandoned cemetery Bachelor’s Grove, joined by some other ghost enthusiasts. I did a tarot card reading on a tombstone, attempting to communicate with any entities in the infamous graveyard. Not really a good idea. Afterwards I experienced a bout of bad luck, and I alluded to the idea that something might have followed me home.http://occultview.com/2009/01/11/tarot-reading-at-bachelors-grove/

Bachelors Grove

A couple of months after my visit to the graveyard, I had an unnerving experience. I was asleep in my bed when I was awakened by a sound…a growling sound, loud enough to stir me from my sleep. It sounded like there was a growling dog in my bedroom and close to my bed. I don’t own pets. I became wide-awake; it was not a lucid dream or anything like that. I laid face away from the sound, and I did not move…I stayed perfectly still and listened to this low growl. I was afraid to turn and look at what was in my room. Instead I said a mental prayer for God to protect me from whatever was there and send it away. After the prayer…the growling just…stopped. Yet I still did not turn to see what could have been there. Afterwards, I wondered what I might have seen had I turned around…anything? Or maybe I’d be discovered the next day in my bed, dead from a failed heart.

I know someone who had her own personal encounter with a growling ghost. Once, seemingly from nowhere, this lady’s home began to experience a haunting. She knew of nothing that would have provoked this to happen. But she said, there came strange sounds like footsteps on the stairway. Her daughter caught a brief glimpse of someone in the house, who then disappeared. Her microwave oven would turn itself on spontaneously. The final straw was after an incident with the microwave oven in the kitchen, she heard a loud growling outside her open kitchen window. She went to the window to look outside…and there was absolutely nothing out there. She had enough. Being a Catholic, she lit candles every night for a week and prayed to God that whatever was in her home would leave. After a week of this…she never experienced any sign of a haunting again.

What to make of this growling ghost? Ghosts don’t growl. Ghosts are deceased human beings and a ghost of a human is still human and humans don’t growl. These growling ghosts are not ghosts, but inhuman spirits.

There is the folklore of the Black Dog, or Barghest. This spectral hound with glowing eyes is said to prowl cemeteries at night. It is considered an evil omen to see one, an omen of death, and is said to be associated with the Devil. There are many legends concerning these Hell Hounds who haunt the graveyards. They are not considered to be the ghosts of men or even dogs. But the spirits of something inhuman. To encounter one is to bring doom. According to demonology, demons cannot take human form, but appear as grotesques, human/animal hybrids and monstrosities.

When I visited Bachelor’s Grove, maybe a “black dog” of that sad, haunted cemetery did follow me home. Maybe the Black Dog is not only folklore. Beware of the Growling Ghost.